State v. Swanzy (2013)
Citation: 110 So. 3d 549, consolidated Nos. 12-K-1281/1297, April 1, 2013. The complete 14-page court-issued opinion was retrieved through the public web reader after an ordinary request returned HTTP 403. Official opinion.
Facts
A repair-business operator sold another person’s excavator and bulldozer, invoking unpaid charges and privilege procedures. The excavator was seized as stolen; purchasers sought refunds, and one later stored the recovered bulldozer for its owner. Opinion, pp. 1–10.
Holding And Reasoning
The court reinstated the bulldozer-related theft conviction and declined review of the sustained excavator-related conviction. The jury could infer fraud from the unauthorized taking, rejected payment/recovery effort and unreliable invoices despite the claimed privilege, advertising and counsel’s advice. Opinion, pp. 11–14.
Purchaser Limits
This criminal sufficiency decision does not resolve every civil title/remedy question or make § 4502(C) available notwithstanding subsection (D). Footnote 1 describes permit-process testimony; it is not a universal OMV clean-title rule. Opinion, pp. 6, 9, 13–14.
Good-Law Status
needs_verification: full-opinion verification is complete; comprehensive subsequent
treatment is not. Later search hits require their own opinion review.
Final review, October 18, 2026: the per curiam was re-read in a Caselaw Access Project static copy (unofficial; saved before that host’s robots.txt, which disallows automated access, was noted; no further requests). Count one (USD 6,500, the bulldozer sold to Michell) was reinstated; count two (the excavator, USD 25,000 from McGowan) had been affirmed below and review of it was denied. The trade-association testimony recounted in the opinion says the permit-to-sell process covers only registered road vehicles, not unregistered heavy equipment. The official lasc.org copy refused an ordinary request on October 17 and was not retried.
Applies In →
louisiana, equipment-and-machinery, motor-vehicles.
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